09 November 2007

The short story on Carbon Capture & Storage

Over the past two days, Swiss Re has gathered together a discordant group of experts on carbon capture and storage (CCS) at their spectacular Centre for Global Dialogue overlooking Lake Zurich.

After a tip off, I had the luck to walk into a panel discussion rounding off the event and heard the best of it, re-stated by the top speakers, in 1.5 hours.

You might have heard about this much toted miracle cure for global warming. Positioned as a solution good for the immediate term, current CCS technologies would greatly facilitate the elusive 80-90% reduction in CO2 emissions, - downing 7 gigatonnes of the stuff per year, required to shove the planet off its collision course with overheating.

I learned about BP's toy CO2 burying project in Algeria, In Salah, showcased by a slick Iain Wright. Equally slick Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs professor Elizabeth Wilson outlined the miracle possibilities of CCS and, with help from Swiss Re Risk Management VP Christina Ulardic, the associated risk of the gas leaking out again and possibly killing people.

But a deadpan delivery by Energy Research Centre Netherland's PhD student Heleen de Coninck more or less dispensed with the whole proposal. Coninck pointed out that pumping CO2 back underground was itself highly energy intensive (even with the existing well developed CCS technologies the so called energy penalty is 15-20%), and likewise highly unlikely given the disparity between the financial market value of carbon (very low, and falling) and the 25-40 euros per tonne needed to pay for CCS.

So there you go. I hope I have summarized the 90 minutes I enjoyed at Swiss Re in 3 minutes of reading.

Sorry you missed the excellent coffee, fruit juice and snacks.